 After serving in Congress, Shiel returned to Oregon, where he had a checkered career.He was barred from practicing law for a time as he refused to take the required oath of allegiance.On the night of December 12, 1893, after socializing at the Willamette Hotel (later renamed the Marion Hotel) in Salem, he fell through a railing along the sidewalk into a basement stairwell, breaking his neck and dying almost instantly.